"If you ever find yourself in over your head, just remember one task at a time and you can get through it."
—John 'Steel Driving' Henry

I wasn’t the only one struggling to move hoof over hoof up the dirt-covered concrete stairs. Our party was hastily bandaging tender wounds, or in my case, tiny less-than-fully-developed muscles struggling to haul myself, my pack, and my weapons up the climb. Why did the equipment that had my name on them have to be so darn heavy? Had my muscles atrophied in stasis? By the time I managed to finally pull myself over the top, my hooves ached with the bite of stairs that were crudely improvised and far too steep for comfort.

Flopping down to take a long, hard nap was about the most tempting idea I’d had since the invention of the deep-fried sweet onion ring and roasted potato taco. Sadly, my newfound friends didn’t seem willing to indulge in my brilliant nap idea. Well, when ya can't beat them or convince them, you just have to join them, right?

We trotted beyond the entrance, out into the slate quarry. I wasn’t sure if what was behind us was a cave or a bunker, judging from the construction equipment around us. Really, couldn’t they have at least swept up their front porch and made it look a bit nicer than just a hole in the ground? With a sigh, I stood back up, trotting after my friends as we sought out clear skies.

Despite the day being extremely cloudy, I couldn’t help but feel my spirits lift as Celestia’s blessing washed over me. It had been a long time since I had been outside again. If these people and my PipBuck are to be believed, it’s been 182 years since the last time I felt Celestia's warmth. Just how much time have I been kept occupied inside those memory orbs the stable’s stasis pods had? Was it even possible for somepony to stay that long in a stasis tank, perhaps even centuries? The Stable-Tec personnel were also using them when they slept, so how was this possible? I couldn’t linger on my thoughts any longer, as I was snapped back to reality when Alguacil called out to those behind us.

“It seems clear up here, nothing but rusted out machines, a few trailers, and rocks. This bowl we’re in is probably the bottom of a bit mine,” he called back.

I ignored Alguacil for a moment and instead looked around. I took a seat to let my muscles rest a moment and rubbed my Pipbuck leg to stop a building cramp. Anything was better than worrying about how much time had passed, or marching out to go look for another fight with these creatures I wanted to call friends. I needed to get my mind off the date on my PipBuck somehow.

Everywhere I looked were plain, uninspiring hills of slate and gray stone. It was like staring at a blank piece of paper while a nightmare’s shadow loomed behind you. The hard rock face behind us held the cave we had come out of. Eventually I turned around to look at the hole we emerged from and realized the exit doors were improvised steel from the machinery in the quarry.

The doors looked like the two of them had been taken from a passenger carousel spell matrix cover and a piece of construction equipment. I only managed to recognize them because, well, I'd seen them before. It gave me pause as I cocked my head to the side, Why would somepony use carousel parts for a door? There were far better uses for the spell matrix hood than that.

Great, dad is rubbing off on me harder than I thought.

I slowly looked away from the cave and spotted a makeshift guard tower right next to us. Beyond that was a row of intact trailers with Stable-Tec decals on them, all colored in that obnoxious blue and yellow Stable-Tec loved so much. But all of that, however, paled in comparison when I spotted two massive mechanical earth movers. One was a massive bucket crane and the other was and even larger lift crane with a heavy stable door attached to its platform. This… this is an incomplete stable! No wonder I recognized the interior. We must have woken up in what was either going to be the water filtration room or the chamber for rain collection.

The two construction pieces were obviously left exposed to the elements for ages, as they were both covered in brown and black rust. Their caterpillar road wheels were mostly there, but turned from shining chrome to dull unsightly rust. From this distance, I could see that one of the wires holding the stable door looked frayed. Despite all that, they looked like they were in good shape beneath all those layers of rust and neglect.

The hole behind us was meant to be reinforced and made into something to withstand the megaspells. Now it just had a set of rusty metal doors improvised from scrap covering it. In addition to this, there was a guard tower built from scrap metal: a ladder torn off the machinery, and a lifter basket at the top for someone to stand watch in. Cascades of rock and slate dotted the immediate area along with what looked like well worn paths made from the earth movers tracks. I could see places the bucket crane had smashed away ages ago, as well as more recently.

Wait, recently? Had that thing moved recently? That would explain the tracks ar—

I let out an eep of surprise, jumping forward when I felt a cardboard edge bunt against my rear. I spun around, ready to shout and scream in painful anger as I could feel the throbbing, sharp pain of a shallow cardboard cut along my flank below my cutie mark. When and how did I get that cutie mark again? Was that part of those files on my PipBuck? Corners was sitting there, two sheepish eyes gazing at me from the slit of her box.

“Don't knock on doors! You're going to get us all killed!” she declared. I looked at the filly, very surprised to say the least. Just for that I'm knocking on every door before we go in. That hurt, and it’s time to explain to this little mare just how much.

“We should demolish this tower. If it belongs to those other raiders it will at least keep them from using it,” Alguacil suggested, causing me to look at him with a confused expression. Were we really gonna break their stuff? I mean, they had tried to kill us, apparently. WAIT!? They had tried to kill us, why did I feel awful about breaking their things?

“Hold on, Alguacil, there may be something useful up there. Let me go look,” I tried to hide how scared I was in my voice but with how my words quivered, pretty sure I failed. I didn't want to hurt somepony if we could avoid it, and I hoped he wouldn't realize I was lying.

“Good ideer, darling. Go on up thar and check fer us,” Buddy said, giving my flank a pat exactly where Corners had left the papercut. OW!!! Come on, can I get a break today? I've already seen—nope, not thinking about it, not going to deal with that right now.

Just then, something inside my visor had moved past my left eye. Hey wait a minute. Well… this is embarrassing, I guess all the commotion earlier had me forget that I’ve been wearing it this whole time.

I started up the ladder rungs and took off my helmet. The side of it had Stable-Tec’s logo and the word “security” was below that in bold white text. There was a clip on the back of the helmet, which made it easy to hook to my pack while I resumed climbing. Whatever had moved wasn't there on the visor and wasn't out beyond in the quarry. Forget about it for now and just get a move on. I climbed the ladder to the top of the tower, then I got an idea in case there was some pony waiting to ambush me. My tail tossed the helmet up to the guard basket while I continued to stare up to the top of the ladder rungs.

There was a heavy thump on the wood and I listened intently just under the rim of the platform. Nothing. I guess it's safe… that or they aren't just going to randomly shoot at a helmet or the first thing that appears at the top of the ladder.

Carefully, I pulled my hooves over the edge and hoisted myself up to the platform. Up here, vision into the quarry was much better, and there was quite a few nice things in the tower itself. The tower was, thankfully, empty of any pony. Instead, there, next to my helmet, lay a scoped rifle, blood stained mattress—wow, whoever slept here had some bad cherrychangas—green ammo box, and a thermos. I picked up the my helmet and looked at it closer. The blood and brains of Spring Bronco on it made me cringe. I tried to wipe it away with a hoof but all that did was smear the blood and left a red film.

I have to clean this off. This wasn't my fault. He hadn't been killed by me. He made his choices. You offered him a second chance. Were all griffins just murderers? Who tried to kill them in return, and now I was caught in the crossfire? How can I function like this?

The emotions welled up inside and I couldn’t fight them down, not untill my helmet was clean. Not untill Spring Bronco’s last moment wasn’t smeared over my head piece. My thoughts faded and my heartbeat slowed when the visor to the helmet finally had no more blood on them. Bronco's body gore was on my stable-barding instead. At least I didn't have to look at a reminder of Spring Bronco's final moments.

In the bright sunlight—it was bright to me and brighter than that half-finished Stable—I could see the modifications to my stable-barding reflected in the visor. I still looked like the Wandering Sunrise I knew. There was a vault 43 number on my collar, two fitted shoulder pads with metal plates, along with knee pads, and several pieces of additional reinforcement along my flanks as well. My face however, was where my attention was truly drawn.

I could see the hurt in my eyes and the feeling of despair creeping into my mind. In the last few hours I had been forced to come to terms with molerats the size of my body, ponies murdering other ponies, and extremely angry robots trying to kill the only friends I had. Were they even my friends? Or had we just banded together because survival had been more important at that moment? Slowly, I put the helmet back on. At least behind the visor they can't see the hurt in my eyes; only just child-like wonder that a filly should have, right? I pulled the visor down and started to move again.

I looked out the tower, circling over its plank railing. I was above the lip of the construction site inside here, as I could see out beyond the slate and gravel. This was a land left with a combination of blasted to bits with craters still embedded in the soil. The mountains in the distance looked like a blasted hellscape stalagmite instead of a snow-capped sleeping giant.

At least I could see the path out of here made for the heavy cranes. Anywhere had to be better than here, right? I mean, not everyone could be like... I shivered at the thought of Spring's last moment. No, I'm sure there are plenty of nice ponies, we just have to find them. It had to be that simple, ponies were better than this I had always believed.

Even still, I couldn't help but stare at the rifle, remembering the shotgun resting against my backpack or any of the sheer number of weapons my new friends carried. Every pony seemed ready to kill at the drop of a hat. Still, I had to salvage everything that we could, Buddy kept saying so and they had even talked about eating meat. Regardless of how you feel Sunrise, the Sand Dog has been a friend so far and you owe him for shielding you from that blast. I felt a smile creep onto my face. I realized he really was a friend, but that fell away when I looked over my back from the shift in weight I sensed, only to see my tail had picked up the rifle on its own.

“How are you doing that? N-never mind, I think if I ask you less questions about how and only what and when, then it won't break my mind. What's in this?” I thought out loud to my tail and put my PipBuck up to the thermos. I had no idea but that robot down in the tunnel had given a few clicks from the PipBuck's rad counter. I wasn't about to let radiation hit me, that had been the whole reason we had gone into Stable 43 in the first place.

There wasn't any ticking, so I opened it up and gave it a cautious sniff. Ginseng tea, it smelled lovely and, surprisingly, was still warm. I took a swig of it and recognized that it at least tasted good. Ha! You're all wrong, I don't have to eat meat, I can still find plenty of veggies!At least if my luck holds out, that is.

I stopped and greedily sucked down the rest of the thermos as my stomach got heavy from the tea. Sadly, there was a growl from it. Oh come on, I don't have anything more solid right now. Can't you be happy with what I give you, tummy? I ignored the grumblings from my insides and flipped open the ammo box. Once one of the bullets was in my hoof, my tail seemed to know to bring the rifle to me. I pulled the bolt back and it fit. Good enough, let's get down and regroup before they start to worry. I climbed down the ladder and saw four sets of eyes from five different creatures all looking at me, quite worried.

“Took long enough, what did you find?” Alguacil asked suspiciously. I quickly took out the rifle and thermos into my hooves.

“That's a good find! We can keep you far away from danger,” Chifundo said, pointing a hoof at the scope mounted on top of the gun. I stared back at him, aghast. They expected danger? Was what happened in the half-built stable not an isolated incident?

Buddy walked over to the tower and started to shove the base of the tower. He pushed, hard enough for the wood to groan under the sand dog's assault. Alguacil dodged a snapping rope that flew his way, moving rather gracefully and fast for a creature his size. The boards finally could take no more and the structure split along the four corner logs holding it up. Finally, with one last great heave, the entire tower tumbled over and crashed to the ground. I raised my hoof to cover my mouth as the resulting dust rolled and the ground shook with the force of the impact. Nyota and Corners let out coughing fits and Alguacil flapped his wings, flying above the debris. Corners just closed the slit in her box.

“Ther', stupid raider ponies won't be able to use that any mor.'” Buddy puffed out his chest, looking rather proud of himself. I surveyed the devastation our sand dog had caused and was reminded: DON'T make the sand dog mad... he can smash you. The guard tower had been turned into wooden scrap that you wouldn't recognize as anything other than just random discolored planks and sundered lumber.

“Well if nothing knew we were here, it knows we are now,” Alguacil declared as he adjusted his sombrero and shifted his eye over to the largest lift crane. “I'll go up there and get a good look around.” He extended his wings and gave them a hard flap, bringing him to top of the crane. He was barely in shouting range up there, but at least the griffin seemed determined to keep an eye out for us rather than fly off. At least he’s staying and not proving a total mercenary.

I looked at the big earth mover and my eyes went wide in childlike wonder. The large bucket crane was like an ancient creature that this quarry had worn away at but refused to bow down, still standing proud like an alicorn princess in Canterlot. I trotted off towards it to get a better look.

“Hey Buddy,” said Nyota. “You, Corners, and Chifundo go check the trailers. I'm going to see if we can scavenge anything from the bucket crane.” Hearing hoofbeats behind me, I took a gaze over my shoulder and Nyota was following, catching up quickly. His stallion hooves were able to take much bigger steps than me and I only heard them now that we were away from the group. Wow, for a full grown zebra he sure is light on his feet. You don't think that—

No no no, Sunrise, calm down. Dad said not all zebras were bad and he also emphasized that I shouldn't judge any pony untill they prove themselves, one way or the other. Nyota hasn't given you a reason to be afraid and he did fix up Corner's leg, twice now. I'm sure he doesn't mean you any harm or anything. I'm sure the Ministry of Morale slogans were wrong, right? I mean, they couldn't possibly all be right. Not all Zebras were bad, many lived in Equestria when the bombs fell. An image sprang to my mind, one of Ministry Mare Pinkie Pie looking down at me.

“Stripes! You Should Have Gripes!” All around her were zebras with various vicious-looking implements. I shuddered at the thought.

“Little one, something wrong?” Nyota asked, the sound of his walking having stopped.

I didn't look at him, I couldn't let him see the conflict on my face. “No, it's fine. Let's see if this thing works.”

Just keep focused on the work, make yourself useful and make sure you aren't being too much of a bother. These ponies are still strangers to you, Sunrise.

On one hoof I had my dad talking to me, telling me to give every pony, zebra, griffin, and sand dog a chance. Dragons too? On the other I had my mother, screaming at me to be careful and not to trust them. I could hear both their voices clearly. When I find them, I'm going to have do to some serious counseling. I swear, the fights between my parents always surprised me that they never resorted to blows.

These thoughts were carried with me all the way up to the operator cabin and I had to jump up the last bit of the ramp since it was missing. Working to pull myself on top of the machine to get around to the engine compartment was a task untill Nyota nudged my flank the rest of the way up. Nyota stayed down there on the landing outside the operator's nest. I looked over to see him using his eye to keep watch around us.
“Go on, Sunny.” I winced at being called that, for some reason it felt demeaning. “I’ll keep the cost clear, you take a look.”

I looked over the lip edge of the engine deck, “Don’t call me Sunny.” Nyota shot a glare at me with his one uncovered eye. “Please?” I added, with a hint of remorse in my tone. He snorted at me and motioned behind me as if to say, get to work.

I had to use the rope inside my pack to hook around the hatch handle. Note to self, set time aside to see what else is in this pack. It was awkward pulling on it and lifting the heavy steel plate engine cover took all the strength my muscles could manage. Finally the rusted shut compartment gave and ground against its hinges with a shriek of rusted metal on metal. I ended up succeeding, as my efforts did force the spell matrix engine compartment to open up. It hung there half open when I stopped, the rust would not let gravity win apparently. I approached the now open compartment as dust and rust settled outward.

Slowly, I peaked up and expected a mess…

“Sunrise dear, get that number 6 wrench for me.” There was no hiding the stress or fatigue of the stallion that called out to me. We were back in the mechanic shop with my father working on a pegasus passenger carrier, a Sky Tourist Mark 3. It was one of the first publicly available models and this one was owned by the City of Stalliongrad. They hadn't bothered to upgrade the fleet to the newest Mark 7s. Why fix what isn't broke right? I trotted over and picked up the wrench under the black bold 6 number from the fire engine red tool box.

I placed it into his hoof with my mouth and let out a giggle as I crawled underneath. “Dad, you know I have almost no talent for this mechanics stuff. Why do you and mom always bring me to work during the summer?” I asked as I got under the carrier with him. I was still plenty small, and unlike him, it wasn't cramped for me. Still, I was careful to not hit the levers or controls for the hydraulic lifts holding up the malfunctioning machine.

“There’s always a chance, my Little Wanderer. I mean, you have managed to go this long without your mark. I suspect we'll find the thing you’re really good at soon enough,” he said as wings held the part in place before his mouth took the wrench from his hoof give a to twist.
I got up on my step ladder and used my hooves to help hold the new capacitor in place. He chuckled through the wrench and let his other hoof hold the wrench in place for a second.

“Come on Little Wanderer, it can't be that bad can it?” he asked with his usual 'dad smile'. “You look like a sad sunrise to me about right now.”

Great, dad jokes, just what I needed. I wasn't a tiny filly anymore, but I wasn't a full grown mare either. Just hadn't earned my cutie mark yet, is all. Ya’ know, that one thing that is suppose to help determine what you're really good at? Well, I was the oldest pony at school to not have it. I should have been happy to be at work with dad instead of at school, though. Here I wasn't the center of every bully's attention to pummel or pick on. The adults didn't pick on me about it, instead they simply viewed it as unrealized potential. Maybe it was the lack of fresh baked berry fritters mom would be making in case I came home with a black eye or a chopped mane today.

“Dad... really? Have you ever even seen a sad sunrise?” I asked as he finished with the part.

“Can only say I've only ever seen one. I think you were still too little to really remember it.” The stallion wiggled from underneath the carriage and dusted himself off with his hooves, which did nothing other than smear his coat in grease. His wings flapped and put a bit more black smear onto my white coat. I didn’t flinch, just looked back and grimaced in frustration. “Come on Sunrise, let's get lunch. This one’s done.” He walked towards the front of the shop where his office was.

I looked around at the other mechanic ponies and even a pair of mechanic zebras working inside dad's shop. My mom had always been a concerned mare about Perileth and Netherbloom and they were always a source of contention in our household.

I smiled at them, they smiled back. We still did this, even though we could clearly see the image of Pinkie Pie in the background, looking at all of us. That poster was staring at us, and those big pink eyes were horrifying to behold. Pinkie Pie's eyes would always meet your gaze and follow you around the room; every one of us could see and feel it when those posters were around. This one showed Pinkie Pie glaring at us while her two forehooves were putting a zebra firmly into the dirt. The words, “Beware, Beware, BEWARE!” etched over the top and bottom. The zebra certainly looked in pain, but just beyond the mare zebra's mouth on the ground was a rolled up scroll with the word ‘secret’ written over it.

“Dad?” The sound of the office door closing shot any chance I had to talk. Dad was already inside, ringing up the city official for the work we had just finished. I wasn't supposed to be up front, I was suppose to duck into his office. He always said it was for insurance reasons, but right now, I had to talk to him. That poster disturbed me that much.

He took the bits from the city rep while someone else in the shop got the Mark 3 ready to be lashed and pulled off. “Rainbow Rise,” I said as I walked up to him. He turned to me with a concerned face. He'd heard his name from his daughter's voice. Anytime I called my parents by their name, they immediately knew something was wrong.

“Yes my Sunrise,” he asked in a deep gentle voice as the city rep walked out to collect the carriage. There was a pause between us as I hesitated. It was written on my face that I was bothered, upset, possibly even angry.

“Dad, can we take down that Ministry of Morale poster?” I asked, not able to look up at him when I said it. I felt my cheeks burning with embarrassment, knowing a customer could walk in and see us any moment. Please don't yell. Please don't be mad. Please don't let this be thing that makes the fight happen tonight.

“No hun, we have to keep it up per the Ministry Mare's rules. Does it really bother you that much? I’m not allowed to take it down, but I can move it,” he offered as I felt his hoof press against my chin and lift my face to meet his. He wasn't angry or upset, he was looking at me with love and concern.

“No, it's just,” the hesitation only made my body tense up more; I had to get the thought out now or I would explode in a puff of white fluff. “I know it bothers Perileth and Netherbloom.” The words were mumbling out of my mouth, but because he was holding my head up, I could be heard clearly. “That mare and stallion have to put up with so much else outside of work. Can't we make it any better for them?” I whimpered out, not sure if I would get a pat on the head or a slap across the snout. I got neither, much to my surprise. Instead, I felt two hooves on my shoulders and two wings firmly around me. I felt safe as I realized my dad had pulled me into a hug. He protectively pressed me into his strong stallion mechanic chest, smearing more grease onto my white coat.

“You are such a daddy's filly, aren't you? I'll go talk to those two and see if they can think of somewhere I can put it where they won't have to look at it. Then, I'll speak to your mother about it tonight and make sure we can manage to get away with moving the poster to some corner out of sight. Does that sound fair, Little Wanderer?”

I looked up at him with big filly eyes, staring in approval into his warm loving ones. I only nodded and smiled a bit better. I carried that smile over my shoulder and at the two zebra mechanics who tilted their heads at me all confused-like as they just smiled back. It felt good to be nice to some ponies I barely knew.

“Never let what others tell you be what you have to accept. Always give every pony a chance. If that’s all you ever learn from me, keep that,” he whispered in my ear. Rainbow Rise gave me a nuzzle against my ear, let me go, then trotted back into the workshop. “Go on and wash up. I'll be back shortly to eat lunch with you. Your mom said she packed some berry fritters in there.”

I cranked the wrench one more time, then inspected the wiring. My cleanest hoof wiped a tear from my cheek as the memory faded away. “Yeah, that isn't supposed to go there,” I thought out loud before starting the rewiring. It was tedious work, but it had allowed me to recall the last time I had worked alongside zebras. Nyota's eye patch was above the rim of the engine deck and I thought his head was following me, almost like an eye was still there. Both zebras sets, past and present, had been quiet, but nothing terribly creepy or off putting about that. I was making a decision right now: until I see my dad again, I'll do my best to make him proud, at least. Judge every pony for myself and give them a chance. Even if my friends were determined that someone was guilty up front, I'd keep this policy as best I could.

“Nyota, do you see a battery anywhere nearby?” I hollered over the engine deck to the zebra stallion. I moved to the edge of the crane and looked down over the operator's cabin to get my eyes on him. Surprised the glass for this thing is still intact.

“I do not see one, nor do I know what they would look like,” Nyota replied, gazing back with a neutral expression. Every time I blinked his expression didn't change, but I seemed to see something else in it too? Hard to read, much? Can you give me something. Please? It would be nice if I could at least get an idea of how you felt right now.

I smiled at him nervously after our long, awkward stare. “Right... zebratech’s different from ponytech. Let's go check with the others. As far as I can tell, this thing should start now, assuming...” I trailed off and had to focus on the climb down, putting my hooves onto his back to make it easier. “I did my job correctly,” I finished as my first rear hoof touched creaking rusted yellow metal. Nyota for his part, didn’t move away but instead reached one hoof out to help me down and I detected the faintest hint of a smile on his face. You smiled! I saw it! You aren’t all tough. Oh come on, don’t frown extra hard now to hide it.

Finally, I got down onto the platform, barely able to fit next to Nyota. I wasn't full sized yet so there was just enough room for us to squeeze onto the ramp landing. “Thank you Nyota. I'm sorry that some of the buckshot hit you earlier. I just, I thought you were—”

A hoof hit my lips and he shook his head, but there was a again smile. The slightest, smallest smile I've ever seen, but dammit, you smiled! I turned and opened the cabin. Surprisingly, on closer examination, the glass around it was completely intact. No cracks or anything. The steel frame held the windows in place that gave the pilot a panoramic view. The controls inside were just as well preserved, if somewhat dusty. I looked and counted, checking to make sure all the pedals moved. The clutch took some effort, but I could feel it depress, and the brakes sounded with a grinding noise. We didn’t roll as I played with the gear shift to make sure every gear locked in place, especially the three reverse ones. Even the panel wasn't missing buttons, and the springs had not popped out beyond their normal console slots. I will never understand how someone built something this sturdy. But, hey, if it still works, it works.

I popped the glove box and grimaced in confusion at what I found. Why are there gloves in a glove box? I swear I've never found glove in a glove box. The leather hoof covers were on top of the instruction manual? My lucky day!

I grabbed the manual and poured through it, losing track of time as I tried to commit it all to memory. All the details on the operation of this vehicle were here; every control and lever. It was even a stick shift transmission. This was wonderful. If I had done the repairs right, and the engine cylinders were all still sealed by their gaskets, she’d be able to start up, and I was reasonably sure I could drive her.

Once I had finished, I closed the manual and I sighed. Right, a battery. Let's go find out what’s going on with Buddy, Corners, and Chifundo. As I set the book down, Nyota knocked against the glass and I turned my head. He motioned his head towards the trailers where Buddy and Corners had re-emerged. I got out and followed Nyota's fresh tracks in the dirt towards the three trailers. My head was still hung and I stared at the ground instead of up at the others. A battery? Could a spark battery of that size last that long? Could it still have a charge? Would all the work I did be for nothing?

All but walking into it, my heart skipped a beat as there was battery attached to the end of the trailer where Buddy was standing. That would work perfectly! I plugged in the test tool from my PipBuck and it returned a charge at 78%, according to the read out from the maintenance program. Now, how do I move something nearly as big as me up to the top of that bucket crane and get it inside the battery holder? I turned to Buddy and looked at his bulky biceps, “Hey, I need a battery for the earth mover, can we take this one?” I blurted out in my excitement.

Buddy scratched under his cowpony hat and looked down sheepishly. First time I’d ever seen that expression from a sand dog, even pre-war. Total confusion. “You want 'er battery?” Her? Who was her? Was someone living in this trailer? Buddy kicked the dirt and straightened out his hat as he regained his composure. “Listen, little lady, we made that ghoul pony rather upset, and I—”

“What's a ghoul?” I interrupted with the curiosity of a naive filly.

Corners snickered and smiled under her box. “Why don't we let her talk to that mare and find out herself?” Box Pone couldn't manage the sentence without belting out several giggles.

I looked at Corners skeptically before turning my head to Buddy, who just shrugged at me and motioned with both hands towards the door that led inside. The blue trailer appeared mostly intact, though I couldn't see through the windows due to the dirt and grim. The tires were all flat, so the rusted Stable-Tec trailer was most certainly not rolling anywhere. I walked up to the door that looked like it was barely on its hinges, got onto the single step with one hoof, and rapped my leg against it three times.

A few heavy hoof falls on the floor inside later and an irritated voice called out, “What do ya want now? Can't a pony get—” the door opened and the raspy, irritated and harsh mare's voice came to a halt as the two of us looked at each other with stark realizations.

I was looking at a unicorn, only this one looked like a shriveled, rotten prune. Her flesh had partially rotted away, and the unicorn’s nose was almost completely missing. Her eye sockets were hollowed out and drawn back as though extremely dehydrated.

My eyes went wide in shock as I took the sight in. In front of me had to be a corpse; a moving, walking, talking corpse. How was this possible? What in Celestia's name was this? I mean HOLY HORSEAPPLES!? Why would any pony do this to another pony? How could a pony survive this? She looked like she was going to drop over dead any second now.

She shuttered in a raspy, harsh tone, probably from the damage to her vocal cords, “I... I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I mean, I promised the filly scouts I’d pay for cookies soon,” she echoed out with a tone that was genuinely afraid of me. I looked down to make sure I wasn't covered in the same abrasions I saw on her skin, HER SKIN! She didn't have a coat of fur! That was the skin that was supposed to be underneath!

I hesitated before I spoke and pointed to the yellow number 43 on my Stable-Tec barding to emphasize the barding. “I'm not a Filly Scout. Not here to collect for cookies,” I replied with a nervous smile, hoping this creature wasn't about to eat me.

There was an audible sigh of relief, and she pressed her hoof to her chest like she was trying to calm a fast beating heart, “Oh good! Thin mints are good and all, but not worth dying for.” Do ghoul hearts still beat?

My jaw visibly dropped as I heard my voice inside me get really high pitched in response, “I... they kill ponies over cookies!?”

“Oh ya know, post war and megaspells, the Filly Scouts collection efforts got really aggressive,” she said, and she noticed the impression this had left on me. “Right, stable dweller; well, at least you're cute. Though your cutie mark had me going for a minute. What can I help you with?”

Will ponies stop reminding me of my cutie mark? That had more questions to it than answers. Things like, when did that happen? How did that happen?

"Play it cool and look at your own flank in a minute when no one else is looking," the pink pony finished my thoughts for me.

“I umm...” I need to stop staring. That is very rude. Have questions to ask about the spark battery. My thoughts raced and I bordered on freaking out only to calm myself just enough to continue speaking. “I was wondering if you would be willing to trade something for the battery attached to your trailer. It looks like it will fit the earth mover over there, and I just finished fixing her up.”
It was the ghoul mare's turn to drop her jaw; it unhinged, going far enough down that it was past her collarbone in a freakish display. I could see into her throat, and there was even a hole that let light in halfway down. The long-since dried out and cracked skin glowed a disturbing neon green in a few places. I gave her a nervous, “Please” type of smile, in the hope of bringing her back to the moment with filly cuteness.

“You want my battery? For that old earth mover? How did ya know how to fix it?” she asked, trying to collect her composure. Well that wasn't about to happen.

“Yeah, my dad showed me a lot of how to fix matrix-tech stuff at his shop before the bombs fell,” I stated that fact like it was common knowledge. I looked up at the mare maintaining the cutest smile I could muster, “By the way, what's your name? I'm Wandering Sunrise.”

“You were... alive... before... I mean... I...” She took a minute and looked at her Stable-Tec uniform. It read 'Construction Employee 110-774-C'. She pulled the tag off and tossed it back into the trailer, “Frieda Waffles. And, I mean, if you were willing to get my neighbors to be quieter, then yeah. I'd be happy to trade my battery to ya. I mean, it would be kind of interesting to see that thing move again.”

I tilted my head to the side in confusion. My mane bounce off my helmet. That was it? A battery like that must either be common, or her neighbors were really loud and rowdy. Either way, I wasn't going to argue. “That's it? I mean, sure, we can talk to them and have a conversation to take care of that for you.” I gave Waffles a blush at her sheepish grin that looked like something straight out of a Nightmare Night horror movie. Why does this feel like an R-rated Nightmare Night movie suddenly?

Waffles smiled and nodded, then wordlessly closed the door. I swore I heard a laugh from the other side as I looked at my cutie mark. Just when did I get that? Wait, a better question is why? Why would I get a cutie mark that was a steel ranger exploding from the inside out? I guess the answer must lie in that week’s worth of missing memories.

I looked down at my PipBuck to see the status screen, checking to see if there was anything else going on with me I should be aware of. Something was blinking in the data section of the screen. I scrolled to it and found... encrypted files? At least a dozen of them. Weirdly enough, I couldn't even read the file names.

There was, however, one clue to them though. All of them were dated for the last seven days on my PipBuck's calendar. That was the first clue as to how we had gotten gotten here or what had happened in the last week. My memory held glimpses of a few events—getting out of the stasis pod and checking the dates on my PipBuck, before looking up at a stallion in a lab coat. A stallion who was being attacked and shooting at something? Everything about him was a shadow, I couldn't clearly see his colors or his face, just a vague shape.

Next thing I remember was suddenly waking up in that pool with the others. These files told me that there was something in them from the last week that I had to know. Sunrise, it has to wait, wait untill we get somewhere safe before you start picking at those files. It would have to wait, what we were in for right now had to be resolved.

I walked back over to Buddy and looked up at him, smiling still, as I had some direction for once. He spared me only a quick glance, then turned back to Corners, the box pone busy talking away at him.

“I don't know if she knows that. Besides, she’s younger than me,” Corners said as I trotted up and the conversation stopped. Great, they’d been talking about me. I smiled at the two of them and pointed at the next trailer.

“Alright, well we have to make her neighbors in the other trailer calm down and be less rowdy,” I explained as Buddy walked over and put a paw onto next door trailer... which growled at us.

Wait, the trailer was growling? No, Sunrise, something inside is growling.

The growl was low and made my legs tremble. Whatever that was, it had to be big, scary, and angry. Buddy took his paw off the trailer and cautiously backed away. I looked around the trailer, hoping I’d find an electric box on one of its walls. I didn't find one, but I did see a flickering light inside through a window, so something had to be feeding it power. ...Wait? If there is a battery, it’s still running? I pressed an ear up against the side of the trailer and heard the sound of a hum from a generator. Yes, it’s running if my ears are right.

“Dat sounded angry,” was all the sand dog managed to say, obviously referring the growling from inside earlier. He motioned Nyota to follow him before I pointed a hoof at Alguacil, who was still keeping watch out for us.

“I’m not loud enough, can you call him down here?” I asked Buddy, the shake then shaking, followed by what sounded like a feral animal ripping something apart.

“Hey! Algu! Git 'own 'ere. We got a job!” he called out, prompting the griffin to fly down with a speed I hadn't expected from a creature that large. You learn something new every day.

We quickly gave Alguacil the rundown of everything we’d found out. The fact that I had managed to repair the earth mover caused him to look at me with shock. The griffin seemed to lose his cool for a second, only to regain it a moment later.

Ha! I found a way to get under your skin. Wait, was that a good thing?

Alguacil picked me up and shoved me onto his back, right against his neck feathers. I struggled at first—earth pony off ground, not happy—but I fit like a proper rider. My forehooves naturally wrapped over his neck and my rear hooves tucked into the cleft of his wings. Wait... why had I let him... oh Goddesses, flying now! We were airborne and on top of the trailer in less than five seconds, looking at a skylight that was part way open. I dismounted from the griffin, something I never thought I would have to say. A tiny pink pony jumped in excitement in the back of my head, shouting “Do it again!”

“We can look in through the sunroof and hopefully find out just what we have gotten into,” he explained. The griffin walked over the rest of the way to the skylight and a talon lifted the window fully open.

I walked over and immediately regretted it. I was so glad I hadn't had any solid food, as the smell alone would have murdered a manticore. I’ve smelled the corpses from the room earlier and those memories came flooding back into my mind. Who were those ponies? Why had they been killed? And why was this similar, yet somehow more rank?

The creature had cold dead eyes of a pony in a funeral casket, only these eyes were moving and still aware of their surroundings. Alguacil was talking to me, his voice coming from the long dead pony's mouth as the vision faded. “Sunrise, look in through here. See that, thats a feral ghoul. These are the things you’ll have to learn to shoot at.” Alguacil's fatherly tone reminded me of a more jaded, larger version of my father. He took out his lever-action shotgun and I took out my 20 gauge pump-action. I peered over the edge of the skylight, poking the gun over the rim.

Inside was the largest stallion I'd ever seen, but this one was like Frieda Waffles in the sense this earth pony was rotting away, his flesh even falling off in some places. I’d seen Big Mac in a parade once, and this stallion was certainly bigger than him. What was this creature?

It snarled and bit into the couch, chewing it. I looked down and heard a few clicks from my PipBuck. Radiation was coming off this creature, all while it was trying to eat a couch that looked like it had been soiled by, well... everything. Flesh, feces, piss, and there were stains that would make me blush to talk about. Bones of ponies were cast around the room without care, and if the intact skeleton lounged on the couch could have an expression, it’d be one of horror and pain. Also, I realized the ghoul was actually chewing the last bits of flesh from the long-dead unicorn.

“How... what happened to him?” I shuddered, straining to keep my teeth under control as I wrapped my mouth around the trigger of the shotgun and took aim. Okay, Sunrise, this creature is feral. It’s killed other ponies, and it will kill you if given the chance. It’s clearly not like Waffles. Calm down and end this creature's suffering, Sunrise. Make sure it can't hurt any more ponies.

“Sunrise, you're going to have to learn sooner rather than later. There are two kinds of ghouls. Feral and Not-Feral. Waffles is friendly still and hasn’t gone feral yet. They all turn eventually, but still, try to learn the difference, alright? And remember, if you ever go feral, would you want to be left that way?” Alguacil stabbed a claw down towards the ghoul as it walked away from the couch. He made sure my eyes were on it before continuing. “Put them out of their misery, okay? Make sure the non-feral ones have a good life, and when they start to turn, don't leave them that way if you can help it.”

Alguacil talked like he had deep personal experience with ghouls. He sounded like he was coldly laying out the facts, but something clearly troubled him, as there was a break in his voice when he spoke. Without uttering any further words, he raised his pistol, took aim, and ultimately shot the ghoul inside.

The trailer shook, and soot and dust flung up around the skylight. Chunks of flesh ripped from the neck and shoulder of the ghoulified stallion. It roared to life and leapt up towards the sky light. Acting almost entirely out of reflex, I jumped back and slipped into SATS. Everything switched to slow motion as the lunging creature got closer and closer. I queued up one shot directly to its face, as its teeth gnashed hungrily. With a flash from my shotgun’s muzzle, the world gradually sped back up.

My weapon’s roar deafened my hearing for a second, as huge chunks of stallion ghoul flesh was sheared off of its skull. The stallion's face flesh was completely shredded off, exposing the bone underneath. Fragments of black ichor stained the floor, while fragments of bone and shriveled ghoul muscle splattered the walls. I watched, caught in the moment, as the stallion flew back towards the floor, the recoil from the shotgun having propelled me in my jump, causing me to nearly fall into the rear sky light of the trailer.

I looked up in time to see Alguacil fire one more shot through the skylight, hearing the dull set of thumps of bullets meeting flesh and the vibration of something heavy falling over inside. Blinking through my visor, Alguacil turned away. I could see my shotgun end was covered in black goo, charred like ash around the barrel opening. Was that the blood ghouls had now?

I slowly rose to my hooves, more groaning reaching my ears when I then saw it on the Eyes Forward Sparkle. Two more red blips had appeared, both moving around under us. Red meant bad things, right? I guess E.F.S. could be used to help figure out if somepony wished to hurt me, right? I got back up, Alguacil extending a talon to help me to my hooves, as my tail took my shotgun back into the holster.

We gathered at the door, which Buddy lined up and slammed into with the force of a wrecking ball. The flimsy trailer door didn't stand a chance, and it flew off its hinges. Friendly, loud reminder to not piss off the sand dog. There was a loud slam and a pulping noise as the door impacted into the corpse of the other pony inside. I looked around and realized that Corners and Chifundo weren’t anywhere near us. I looked at the E.F.S. and two dots lined up in front of me, either inside or on the other side of the trailer. These two were marked as the two ponies in question.

I tapped Buddy on the hip to get his attention before he and Nyota stormed inside. “Okay, over there are tw—” my speech was abruptly interrupted by two shotgun blasts and a pistol shot, followed by one of the red blimps on the E.F.S. fading out. “One! There’s one more inside,” I corrected myself. Did this happen often? Were we going to have to deal with pony zombies this often? Was this life now? I hope it gets better than this.

“It has to, right, Sunrise? It always can be better!” said the Pink Pony in the back of my mind.

Buddy and Nyota storm inside as a ghoul came out of a back room, running right at us. Both of them acted in unison. Nyota used his rear hooves to strike both the ghoul’s legs, while Buddy brought down his claws like mighty hammers. The ghoul pony was turned into pulp in seconds.

My nose wrinkled and I recoiled in horror, as the smell was so much stronger here at the door. If I had had anything solid in my stomach I would have lost it, but as hungry as I might have been, I found that I suddenly I wasn't.

Okay, Sunrise, just get through this, go in and check the battery in this trailer; you might be able to use it. Go inside, get over it! You have to. This was your idea! Sunrise, GO! By the time I had finished the thought I was standing in front of the circuit breaker box. Wait, had I walked in here subconsciously? Oh gods... that smell. My eyes wandered over to the door, where I looked at the couch beside it.

There was definitely a body under it, the body of that stallion we had blasted with shotguns repeatedly. At least I couldn't see it. Buddy was moving the body of the other ghoul back to the room it came out of, while Nyota and Chifundo were searching the trailer for anything worth salvaging.

I pulled the master switch and the trailer lights all died. After carefully removing its wires, I discovered that… yeah, this battery was HEAVY! I mean, this thing was like lifting a massive weight. It must at least be seventy pounds! My PipBuck indicated it had a charge at 71%, which was good. That meant the alternator of the earth mover should keep it powered. Suddenly, however, with all my effort to move this battery, I was in the air. None of my hooves touched the floor as I dangled above it, holding onto the power cell for dear life. Ground, where did you go? Why was I— Buddy looked at me with a smile as he leaned over to me, “I got 't little filly,” he assured me.

“Can you put me down?” I asked, feeling like I may have walked into a cartoon for a second. He lowered the battery untill my rear hooves touched trailer floor, then he picked up and carried the battery in one paw like it was a toy. How strong was he? I had to use my entire body to drag that battery across the ground. He could lift that and me with one paw. Note to self, DO NOT ever make the sand dog mad, times two at this point.

We got back outside and I happily left the feral ghouls corpses behind. I felt a pang of guilt, as we didn't do anything for the bodies, but at this point, I really just wanted away from there. I kindly approached Waffles's trailer and knocked a few times. There were some hoof steps as Waffles undid the barely-held-together lock and opened the door.

“Oh! Its you again, Sunrise,” her raspy voice said with a cheery hint in it. A thought disturbed me, that there might come a day that I would have to kill Waffles, if, no Alguacil said when, she went feral. I realized now how much more precious life had to be with a sword hovering over the back of your mind; ready to impale and end the person you were. Turning you into the... the creature that stallion had once been. I hadn't even taken the time to look at his cutie mark, if it was even still there.

“Sunrise, she’s staring at you. Speak now,” the pink pony said, insistently poking my head with my own tail.

“Hi! So your neighbors apparently went feral. I'm sorry about that, but they shouldn't bother you or any other pony anymore. I just hope it helps.” I looked away from Freida Waffles, as I couldn't bare to see her face right now. You can at least tell her the good news. It didn't count as murder if the pony inside them was already dead, does it? “Also... we don't need your battery anymore, so you can keep it. We took the one from their trailer and it’s still good. I just...hope it helps,” I earnestly conveyed like a broken record.

I gave a nervous smile and looked back up, not sure how Waffles would take the news. To my surprise, however, the mare seemed to have a genuine weight lifted from her shoulders. She stood taller and her face shined into a smile that this time I knew was real. Her facial features became lighter, and for the first time ever, I actually thought this ghoul was alive. Granted, a very starved and dehydrated unicorn, but alive all the same. Her eyes seemed to fill their hallowed sockets completely.

“You... you did all that and don't want the battery anymore? I mean, I suspected that Big Hoss and his family had gone feral from the screams the other night on that unicorn. I could have never brought myself to put them out of their misery. Thank you, little filly. Uh, hold on!” she exclaimed before trotting away from the door. In short order the ghouled unicorn returned with two bags. She passed me one, and the PipBuck registered 300 caps in it. I stared at the little bag in my hoof for a moment. Then it registered a memory orb inside the bag as well.

Caps? Like, why would I want caps? And I need a re-collector for reading that. What kind of world is this?

“Here, take these too,” she said, handing me something warm and wrapped in tin foil. I held it up and smelled it. Cookies!

“I, well, thank you,” was all I could manage as I handed Buddy the caps and a covered plate of cookies. He took them and gave me a toothy grin in return.

“'reat we can pay to 'ave Corners leg get fixed. WHOO Cookies!” he exclaimed, grabbing one and biting into it. He appeared to be lost for several seconds in that cookie. Like the world was suddenly brighter. As he chewed, his eyes darted from side to side, and I swear his pupils had dilated as well.

“U've got to try deeze!” Buddy shoved the cookies under my nose and I took another whiff. I took one into my hoof and examined it. Oatmeal raisin? I guess there is a chance that something nice survived after all.

I took a bite and suddenly everything got a lot darker around me. I felt strange, and my eyes went out of focus. I lost almost all my peripheral vision. The shadows of every object came to life and animated in a way that was terrifying and made me recoil away. The window behind me opened as Waffles put her fore-hooves and head out, “Now which cookies did I... oh... have fun, deary!” she shouted out, closing the window with a noise that sounded ten times louder than it should have been.

The world grew darker still, and more shadows moving in from all sides. The sunlight through the clouds got duller and more close to twilight through my narrowing vision. I could only see what was immediately in front, as my peripherals failed completely. My body felt foreign, like the connection to my brain was not working at full power. Rocks came to life and gnashed their teeth intent on devouring me. The images of the pony skeletons in the water appeared and they were moving. They stalked toward me, murderous intent of red eyes inside their skulls, the red eyes of the sentry bot.

“Why didn't you save us?” their bone-chattering voices filled my head. They kept shambling towards me, chanting it over and over again. A hoof grabbed me, and I turned to face Spring Bronco. His head was in pieces, yet he spoke perfectly. The gore dripped onto my stable-barding as he leaned in close, the one eye still attached to his skull pressed into the visor the same way the one in the cave had. He spoke with words that chilled me to the very soul.

“Why couldn't you convince me to turn from my evil ways! Why couldn't I get a second or third chance! Why! Why, you stupid little filly?” he shouted at me. His frayed mouth opened and lashed out around my throat.

I screamed and the world went black.

Level Up!
New Perk Extra S.P.E.C.I.A.L. - Not the short bus kind of special but at least we know you are a special one. Attribute Chosen: +1 INT

Author's Notes:

First off thanks to Kkat for creating Fallout: Equestria and letting the Project Dead Tree guys compile edit and make the full version of the Fallout: Equestria into a Pen and Paper game we can all play.

Second thanks to the Project Dead Tree guys for making the game and running it for me on Wednesday nights for the live stream.

Third, thanks to Hitomi for the edits turning this into something at least readable and more fun for us all.

Fourth thanks to our Artist for Images Imbedded: Glacier Frostclaw
https://ankokufang.deviantart.com/